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9:09 PM, Thursday June 16th 2022

Man do I love everything about this piece!

First of all, I love your state of mind! I congratulate you for sticking with the idea and finishing your first full piece! All drawings start up there, in your mind, you just gotta express them in the materialistic world and present your ideas to peeps, which sounds wayyy easier than it actually is! Being able to replicate what is in your mind is very awesome, it shows a certain type of creative intelligence! And believe me, it can be a real struggle, but your pulled through!

The drawing itself is very pleasing to look at! The fire calms down the atmosphere and I love the little flame effect and the warmth it emanates. It is clearly the main focus of the scene. And that big jar hugging that baby jar is very cute :)

I like the less detailed background characters, I presume it's to not take away from the focus and make the drawing too cluttered, while also adding a sense of depth. The background itself is very nice, love that forest btw!

The shapes range from not being that complicated, say the jars themselves and the houses, to pretty complex, like the patterns on the jars. I also love the different textures you used for the taverns and the jar's hands, heck, even the grass looks nice.

The lines are also used sparingly, but wisely. You only added them on necessary components and kind of blurred them in the background, which I love.

The colors are brilliant and bold! Love the contrast of warm and cool colors. The red from the jars, the vibrant yellow bushes and the crackly brown wooden beams used in the inns are in a nice symphony with the bluish background forest and the green and alive grassy ground.

One thing I would add more of are shadows for sure. These could go on the corner of the houses, around the jar characters, in the grass and this would just put the fire more into focus and make it mightier. Heck maybe even experiment with a night setting and do a color study on the drawing changing the time and feel of the drawing. If you are interested in color studies, here is a link! https://drawpaintacademy.com/color-studies-guide/

But JJAG, congrats! Love this to bits! Keep on creating amazing scenes and flourish in this creative department, you are doing amazing!

11:00 PM, Friday June 17th 2022
edited at 8:03 AM, Jun 18th 2022

Thanks for the tips and kind words! Glad you liked it!

I wanted to push contrast more, but I was afraid I'll ruin the piece, so I left it as it is. Also I think I failed at storytelling part of the piece. The main idea was jar family being unaware of a danger behind them -the guy with a hammer. I think I should skip the shack behind him, so he stands out more, I tried to fix it by adding him some bloodstains, but I think he still blends too much with the background.

edited at 8:03 AM, Jun 18th 2022
7:29 AM, Saturday June 18th 2022

Oh no, I think you actually portrayed those guys like they were a menace pretty well, cause that's exactly what I thought, but I just forgot to mention it.

To make characters look more like a threat, I usually look more in depth at the colors first. What I mean by this is to use colors that are secondary, such as purple or green. If you take a look at a lot of Disney movie villains, such as Queen Grimhilde, you can see the robe she is wearing is a purple color which makes her look darker and spookier. There is also a scene in The Lion King where Scar is engulfed in a green mist, which makes the whole atmosphere ominous.

Now, colors aren't everything, you can also take a look at the atmosphere surrounding the character, like in the green mist scene I talked about earlier. Or you can make them hidden in a shadow or obstructed by an object, making the character look eerier and creepier.

You should also take a look at the face expression of the villain, making them look dangerous with exaggerated frowning eyebrows or making them smile in a sinister way. Take a look at like any Disney antagonist and you'll see what I mean.

Now, down here I'll post some links to various videos which I think will make you know more about storytelling and threatening characters in general:

  1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54c8svkLHf4 How to write villains;

  2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga0rs2G8BGI What makes a good villain;

  3. https://venngage.com/blog/disney-villains/ Color theory about antagonists;

  4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnMaMsiRfIE How to design a villain;

  5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PS18KPlogso How to draw a villain;

  6. https://youtu.be/F-8rY-WiIt8?t=640 How to draw and portray storytelling;

    But I think you did an amazing job regardless, and next time you should try to experiment more, like with the contrast part and don't be afraid of failing! You are gonna do awesome!

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